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In the heat and humidity of mid-August, few students are aware that players have returned to preseason camp for one of the most physically strenuous, hard-hitting, mentally demanding, and overlooked sports: rugby. Over twenty returning players came back for the optional summer training, which translated into a strong showing overall at their first tournament of the season. This past August the University of Virginia Men’s Rugby Club started practicing in preparation for the inaugural Atlantic Coast Invitational Rugby VIIs (“Sevens”) tournament, which consisted of the 10 “core” ACC teams: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, NC State, UNC, UVA, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. VIIs rugby, or Sevens, is a quicker version of rugby that will be played in the 2016 Olympics. Instead of fifteen players on each side for two 40-minute halves, as in traditional XVs (“Fifteens”) rugby, there are only seven players on each side for two 7-minute halves. Other than some minor rule differences regarding conversions and penalties the games are the same.

The UVA squad did little early on in the tournament to remedy the perception that they were an underdog by falling 12 to 26 in the opening match against Georgia Tech. This placed extra weight on the second match of the day against UNC- Chapel Hill. UVA benefited from both its newest player, Oli Grindrod, who scored two tries and from veteran John Curtain, who also scored a try, in a grueling 19-10 win over UNC. Virginia Tech was UVA’s third opponent and was living up to expectations as one of the tournament’s favorites. UVA, however, was able to draw Virginia Tech in a tight battle that ended 12-12 after a missed UVA conversion and two spectacular tries by second-year Evan Burch. With a record of 1-1-1 UVA was poised to rank second in their bracket if they won their last game against the Duke Blue Devils, and with this motivation the squad won convincingly 20-7.This decent showing on the opening day of the tournament put UVA in second place in the bracket and thus a favorable position moving into the second day of the competition.

After avoiding a play-in match due to their high ranking, the University of Virginia’s squad opened with arguably one of the most exiting games of the tournament. After falling behind late in the quarterfinal game to Wake Forest, UVA put together a string of passes down the sideline to tie the game with just over a minute left. And then with seconds ticking down in the game, fourth year Gerry Spelman made a run down field before popping the ball off to Evan Burch for the go-ahead score with only 34 seconds left. These last second heroics epitomized the spirit of the weekend and were a direct result of the work that the team put in during the preseason. Unfortunately, UVA was defeated in the semifinals 17 to 10 by North Carolina State, who went on to win the whole tournament over UNC in the final.

The inaugural ACI VIIs tournament was a success in respect to how every team had a good chance to win it all. No one squad stood out above the rest. In the end, the UVA team should be especially pleased because they entered as unknowns and finished in the semifinals. This was a great start to the semester, and on September 18th UVA will begin its XVs season with a match away at Georgetown University who always proves to be a tough competitor.